Giacomo II da Carrara

Giacomo II da Carrara (c. 1305–1350), son of Niccolò da Carrara, took Padua by murder. His father's pro-Scaliger coup failed in 1327 and he was captured and sent to Germany. Freed after two years but barred from Padua, he lived in exile until his cousin Ubertino let him return in 1340.

Ubertino, dying in 1345, named Marsilietto Papafava as lord and passed Giacomo over; on the night of 6 May Giacomo killed Marsilietto and was proclaimed signore next morning. He declared an amnesty and let exiles return, tied Padua to Venice, and joined its campaigns at Zara and Capodistria. In 1349 he brought Petrarch to Padua as a cathedral canon.

On 19 December 1350 Guglielmo, an illegitimate son of Giacomo I, stabbed him to death; he was buried in Sant'Agostino under a tomb with an epitaph by Petrarch.